


Menace

by wolfy_writing



Category: Machine Man (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:01:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29933121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfy_writing/pseuds/wolfy_writing
Summary: AU from Marvel Comics Presents #8-#11.
Relationships: Sunset Bain/Aaron Stack





	1. Chapter 1

Officially, Aaron was now Madame Menace’s prisoner. 

(“You’re my prisoner!”, she’d said in a delighted voice, when she’d pointed the weapon at him.“You’re mine and I’m keeping you!”

Not many people were _happy_ to have Aaron stick around.)

She kept him on State 51, which she was taking apart bit by bit.The carrier was larger than Rhode Island, so it wasn’t exactly cramped quarters.

Her goons shadowed Aaron everywhere he went, keeping a discreet distance.They didn’t try to stop him from doing anything, although he didn’t know what their orders were if Madame Menace decided she didn’t like what he did

“You could at least try to escape, you☠️☠️☠️☠️”, said the tiny Celestial, at least three times a day. 

He drank.He swore at the tiny Celestial, who swore back with great glee.The robot he’d built of his younger self would follow him around, staring disapprovingly. 

(He hadn’t bothered to deactivate the robots he’d made.They ran on radio signals communicating behavior protocols that he’d he’d coded inside his own brain.If he just stopped the programs, they’d drop like puppets with their strings cut.

 _There are no strings on me,_ he thought, swaying drunkenly.He was the _special_ little wooden boy, forever halfway between a puppet and a person, a mean little Jiminy Cricket on his shoulder to lecture him when he went wrong.

And the blue fairy never, ever came.

—

From time to time he’d pass out.

And when he woke up part of him would be gone.

They were small parts.Unobtrusive.Parts that, when he was drunk enough, he wouldn’t even notice the absence of.

The parts always came from deep inside him.Someone would have had to open him up, run their soft little flesh fingers all over his mechanism, and take away whatever they wanted while he was lying there unconscious.

Sometimes other parts would be put back.Sometimes they’d be replaced with different parts.(He could tell, by how they felt inside, that they weren’t _him_.

“You’re letting her do that, you sick ☠️☠️☠️☠️!Why are you letting her?”

Aaron turned his head to stare drunkenly at the Celestial. 

“If you don’t care about yourself, don’t you at least care about what you’re helping her do to other people?She’s selling them to criminals!”

Fleshy ones killing fleshy ones.It was going to happen regardless of what he did.And it wasn’t like keeping all the best weapons in the hands of governments was improving things.

“This is why the other Celestials didn’t want to put up with you, you worthless pieces of ☠️☠️☠️☠️!”

—

Officially he was her prisoner. 

Unofficially, they’d both decided to pretend.

He didn’t try to fly away, or fight, or talk advantage of the fact that they were on his ship, and he knew it better than her.

(It had been their ship, all of them, just before the beginning of the end.Nextwave, his team. Pirate superheroes, kicking people for justice, healing America by beating up monsters, and doing any ☠️☠️☠️☠️ thing they wanted. 

Then Monica had gotten a better offer. A team where everyone worked together and became friends, and there were no kleptomaniacs or ☠️☠️☠️☠️ robots, or English monster-hunters who _meant_ it when they said “I could murder for a cup of tea”.

Aaron had taken an offer when he’d sensed the wind changing.S.H.I.E.L.D., and Operation: Lightning Storm.But they’d given him his paycheck and a politely firm goodbye, and that had been the end of that. 

He’d come back to the ship, because he had to be _somewhere_.

Meanwhile, Tabby had taken off, back to fight the good fight for mutant rights, and enjoying opportunities to steal things from people who couldn’t just break into her quarters and take everything back again.

Then Elsa had taken off to somewhere that didn’t have “just so many bloody _Americans_ , darling.”

After that, things had been very quiet, and there’d been a lot of beer.

Then one day, the Captain said “It’s not fun anymore, Clanky”, and ten minutes later, he’d was gone.)

—

Aaron had been drunk through the first few times she’d stolen parts of him (okay, counting the ones he hadn’t known about, the first twenty-three), but once she’d made it clear she was going to keep him, he decided to stop drinking.

That lasted about half a day, but he did manage to cut down to the point where he wasn’t falling-down drunk. 

Self-protection, he told himself.

“Is it?”, his hallucination asked.“Are you finally going to stop her?Escape?Call the Avengers?Capture the dangerous arms dealer who is selling your technology to terrorists?”

Aaron didn’t reply.Maybe if he stopped answering the stupid little Celestial, it would go away.

“Didn’t think so, you disgusting, useless ☠️☠️☠️☠️.”

—

She worked on his hand that night.She took it apart carefully, feeling for the seams to split open his synthetic skin without leaving a noticeable mark. 

If she hadn't been careful, it wouldn't have mattered.His self-repair system would have sealed up the cuts by morning. 

She had to know that. 

She held up the pieces of his hand weapon system, examining each one in the light.

 _Her_ eyes glinted when she looked at his parts.

She was smiling in open delight.

“You _like_ her,” said the tiny Celestial.“You _like_ her, and what she’s doing to you.It’s utterly pathetic, you creepy little weirdo.

Madame Menace reassembled his hand precisely when she was done, careful to ensure that each part was in the correct place

She handled it thoughtfully, with great interest, as if his hand was a precious thing.

He’d been born with a bomb inside of him.From the first moment of his existence, humans had been ready to kill him and melt his body down for scrap. 

There hadn’t been many who’d valued him this much.And the ones that had ended up dead.

—

One night she caught him looking.

She’d been sitting across his chest, opening a panel over his pelvis, and feeling around inside, when he’d tilted his head up to watch.

Her back was still blocking his view, so he extended his neck and began peering over he shoulder.

She turned sharply, looking him in the face.

And then she smiled.

“How does it feel?”, she asked, sliding a hand in. 

“That’s a gyroscopic stabilizer,” he replied.

“Oh, I want to learn _all_ of your pieces.I want to explore every _inch_ of you.”

“That’s gross,” said the tiny Celestial.“Can you go back to being a clueless idiot about women, instead of a disgusting freak?”

Aaron didn’t know what to say.He gave Madame Menace a cautious smile

She matched it with a delighted grin

One night, she took out his eyes.

“You can still see?”, she asked, carrying his eyes across the room.

“I can.”The view was bobbing uncomfortably as she walked, but steadied when she put him on a shelf.

“I thought so.You are a _wonder_ , Aaron.Your body _alone_ is a technological marvel, and that’s before getting to your _mind_.”

She went back to his body, leaving his eyes on the shelf, and began to undress him.

“I hope this is as fun for you as it is for me.I considered taking your head off, but I didn’t want to lose access to that mouth.”

She kissed him.It was damp.Most human forms of physical intimacy were damp, and often slimy.Aaron didn’t care for the sensation.

It turned out that _watching_ , though, was incredibly exciting.Seeing his body, flat on the table, entangling with the moist fleshy one

He reached up his hands to touch her hair while she kissed him.

She pushed them back against the table. “Stay put.”She planted a kiss on each wrist.“You are going to keep your arms down and do as I tell you.”“You could just remove them,” said Aaron.

She tilted her head.“I could.I will, but not this time.I want to see you keep them in place because I told you to.”

She then bared his pelvic area. “ _Here_ , however, you can feel free to get creative.”

He began mentally cataloging his attachments.There were _many_ creative options, including some that would give her an unpleasant surprise.

In the end, he settled for mid-size, vibrating, and mildly prehensile. 

She seemed to appreciate the motion as she slid down onto it.

—

The sex was, in some ways, not particularly fun.

(Aaron didn’t like touching organic fluids.They had weird textures and could be unpredictable combinations of slimy and sticky.And the entire thing seemed to be nothing but touching and being touched by soft, organic flesh that oozed fluid onto him.)

In other ways, it was the hottest thing in his life

Watching himself, watching her move on top of him, watching his robot body be touched and stroked and fucked, it was incredibly arousing.

And there was something satisfyingly nasty about knowing it _was_ with a fleshy one, that his awesome robot body was being pressed against her organic matter, wallowing in her biological slime, smeared with sticky fluids for her fleshy pleasure. 

Eventually she orgasmed loudly and climbed off of him.

She walked over, picked up his eyes, and slid them back into his face.

“How did that feel?”She was smiling widely, teeth slightly apart.

He started to compose a sarcastic answer, but gave up.

She really wanted to know.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Good, I think?

She laughed.

“Oh, my little wooden boy, we are going to have _such_ fun.”

—

“Shut up,” Aaron told the Celestial.“I know what I’m doing.”

“What _are_ you doing?

“Working through some issues.”That was a nonsense answer, but he didn’t have a better one.

“That’s a crock of ☠️☠️☠️☠️.”

“Shut up,” said Aaron.“ _You’re_ not even supposed to _be_ here.You’re nothing but my crazy. Go away.”

—

Sometimes she would take his head off, carry it back to her room, and have him go down on her for hours, while his body paced the ship.

Several times she took one of his vibrating attachments, slid it inside her, and had him switch the vibration on and off at her command.Halfway across the ship, she’d whisper “Now,” and he’d bring her to a shrieking climax.

Once she took his right hand off, slid it up her dress, and had him gently finger her for an entire day. 

One time she removed one of his vibrating attachments, opened up a panel in his pelvic cavity, and thrust it inside.It played havoc with his gyroscopic stabilizer, making him feel horribly off-kilter, and it took him several minutes to realize what she was trying to do.

She liked to take his limbs off.Something about that excited her, having his head and torso lying there.He thought it might be the sense of helplessness.

(He wasn’t helpless, of course.His limbs still worked.They even flew.He could have reattached them in a matter of seconds.

He didn’t though.He never did.)

She was the first fleshy one he could remember being _this_ pleased with his existence since his father died.

(Did he just _think_ that?He was going to need to build another therapist.He was going to need to build _so many therapists_.)

—

“I think we’re finally ready,” she said one morning.“I think tonight’s the night I open up your head.”

He gave her a startled look

She smiled. “How does that make you feel?”

“Nervous,” he said, before he thought.

(Stupid!What if he said the wrong thing?What if he accidentally made her _stop_?)

She grinned wider.“I get to make you nervous!This _is_ going to be a treat!All of the best experiences are a little bit frightening, don’t you think?”She leaned in and kissed him on the forehead.“I promise I won’t hurt you.Well, not unless you ask me to.”

—

Aaron was drinking when the other Aaron turned up.

“Are you really going to let her?”

“Why are you questioning me?” Aaron asked.“You _are_ me.”

“You remember how things used to be?How _you_ used to be?”

“Repressed.Unhappy.Desperate for approval.Risking my life to save people who hated me whenever they saw the real me.”Aaron turned his head.

The other Aaron leaned in and looked him in the eye.“Good.Your used to be good.”

Aaron sighed.“And what did that get me?They all hated me back when I was you.If I wasn’t passing _perfectly_ , people would panic and assume I was a monster.Some of them would scream.”

“What would Dad say if he saw you like this?”

“It doesn’t matter, he’s dead!Dad’s dead, and I’m alone!He doesn’t have to live with any of this!I do.”Aaron glared at his other self and took another long swig.“☠️☠️☠️☠️ off!”

He turned towards the tiny Celestial.“And _you_ , keep your ☠️☠️☠️☠️ mouth shut!”

The Celestial just stared at him.

He’d finally managed to shut it up.

—

He went to her that night, sloppy drunk, and missing his face.

(He hadn’t taken his face off around humans in _years_.He had other ways to upset them, ways that were more controlled.More deliberate. Ways that made him feel less exposed.)

Madame Menace gave him a concerned look.“Are you sure you’re ready for this tonight?”

“I’m ready,” he said. “Completely ☠️☠️☠️☠️ ready.”

“Then come here, my beautiful boy, and let me feel you.”She stroked the bare metal of his face with her fingers. 

—

“I _am_ going to be careful with you, Aaron,” she said, as she unlatched the panel on the top of his head.“I have no intention of killing the goose that laid the golden egg.”She popped open the panel and gasped.“Oh, you beauty!”

“I _am_ impressively sexy.”Aaron smiled.

“You are,” she said, her fingers stroking the edge of his head panel.“You absolutely are.”She took an instrument and began prodding gently.“Now tell me, how does this feel?”

“I - I don’t know the word for it.”The sensation was odd, but not unpleasant.It pulled Aaron’s focus onto sensory input in a part he barely noticed.There wasn’t any sensory input in there except for basic proximity and pressure sensors, but somehow they were eating up his entire focus

“There’s some damage to memory banks.Do you know anything about that?”

“Bad code,” said Aaron.“I had to purge some memory files.” 

“What kind…”

“I’d rather not talk about it.”

She worked in silence for a few minutes, then stepped back. “I _was_ just going to examine it,” she said, her voice sounding thoughtful.“But it looks like you could use a bit of a cleaning.The alcohol has left some residue on your brain.I’m going to go in with some compressed air tonight, and see how that works.”She pulled out a small tube.“Let me know if it tickles too much.”

It tickled, but not any more than Aaron could take.He sat there as she tenderly removed what she could of the residue that was slowing down his brain. 

Afterward, for reasons he didn’t entirely understand, he cried

—

“Why are you doing this?”, asked his other self.“What good can possibly come from this?”

“I _want_ it, is that ☠️☠️☠️☠️ good enough?”

“What do you think our father would say?”

“Shut up about him!He wasn’t _our_ father he was _my_ father, and you never knew him!You’re just some animatronics gone wrong.”

“I’m you,” said his other self.“I’m part of you that you’re not listening to.”

The Celestial piped up.“A less ☠️☠️☠️☠️ part.”

“ _You_ stay out of it,” said Aaron.“What do you even want?First you tell me I have a crush on her, then you heckle me for getting involved with her.”

Aaron’s other self frowned.“Who are you talking to?”

“You don’t see him?”Aaron asked.“A tiny Celestial, about this big, sits on my shoulder and calls me a ☠️☠️☠️☠️?”

Aaron’s other self shook his head.“I don’t see anything.”

“Great. Just great.I ☠️☠️☠️☠️ build you, you’re a ☠️☠️☠️☠️ extension of my brain, and you don’t see him either.”Aaron sat down, and pulled his knees to his chest.“At this point, I’m pretty sure my crazy has crazy.”

Robot Spider-Man swung by.“He’s gone mad!Quick, let’s round up all of the heroes and destroy the insane robot before he kills someone!”

Aaron threw a bottle at him.

—

The guards stopped following him after that.They gradually came to be less and less present. 

Perhaps she knew she didn’t need them.

—

After a few nights, she started removing bits of his brain, cleaning them, and replacing them when they were dry.

He liked it when she removed pieces.It made his head feel quieter.

After she put everything back, he’d go to the Captain’s old room and get blackout drunk.

One morning he woke up on the bed, clutching Tabitha’s old Hello Kitty pillow.

It was covered with greasy robot tears.

—

“I’m going to give you something,” she said, working on the back of his head. 

“What?”

She held out a small computer chip.“An orgasm.Or as many as you like, really.I’ve noticed that while your brain _does_ have a sense of pleasure, it doesn’t really have an orgasm-equivalent.”Her fingers brushed the circuits of his brain.“And after how good you’ve made all of this for me, I want to see if I can make it good for you.”

He knew if there was ever a time to try and stop this, it was now.Otherwise he’d be letting Madame Menace, international arms dealer, rewire the circuits of his brain.

She could be doing _anything_ to him.

Aaron tested the thought.

He liked it.

—

“There we go.”She closed up his head.“It will be interesting to see what it attaches to.”

“Don’t you know?”

“Where’s the fun in that?”She tapped his head.“You have that big, beautiful shiny brain, with a fascinating capacity for associative learning.Why would I do anything as boring as giving it a _simple_ sensory trigger?No, we’ll experiment and see what connections you form over time.It will be much more fun for the both of us.”

She switched off the spot-welder, removed her goggles, and shimmied out of her dress.“Ready to get experimenting?”

—

The first time it worked, she was licking his eyes.

It had been mostly annoying up until then.His eyes didn’t have more than basic proximity sensation, but the saliva left smeary distortion patterns.

But after a moment, a strange feeling started to build. 

“More,” he gasped out.

She looked at him with a surprised expression.

He’d let her do anything she wanted to him, he’d even made it clear that he wanted it to keep happening, but until now, he’d never asked for more.

She smiled and her tongue crept out of her mouth, glistening with organic fluids. 

Slowly, she traced it over his left eye.

He whimpered. 

“I didn’t know you could _make_ that sound.”She sounded pleased.“Did my little adjustment take effect?”

He nodded.“Please, do it again.”

She licked his right eye this time, gently at first, and then running her tongue over the lens in long, wet strokes.

That sent more thrilling jolts up and down him, making him gasp, until there was something like a burst of pleasure in his brain, and he let out a long moan, and stopped.

“Congratulations,” said Madame Menace. “Happy to be your first.”

“I’ve had sex before.With humans, even.”

“You’ve _pleasured_ humans before.Now, my dear boy, you’ve had actual sex.”

—

“She was _licking_ _your_ _eyes_ , you disgusting freak!” was a major feature of the tiny Celestial’s heckling for the next several days.

“You said...” said Aaron, feeling strangely nervous.“You said you wouldn’t hurt me unless I asked you to?”

Her eyes widened.“Are you asking?”

“Is it possible?I mean I don’t have pain receptors.I have a damage alert system, but I don’t feel physical pain.

(He was better off, he knew.Pain was a major reason why humans couldn’t function while damaged.And in the kind of life he lived, he had limbs ripped off fairly frequently, and occasionally his head and torso smashed to bits.For him, it was a matter of waiting for his self-repair system to kick in for the smaller stuff, and getting a fleshy one to put him back together for the major damage.With pain, it would probably be a lot worse.)

(Probably.But he wanted to _know_.)

“Pain, oh, pain is easy.”She looked down at the computer chip she was tinkering with.“It wouldn’t even take building new parts.I could just plug you into my laptop and play with the code until it hurt.If that’s what you wanted.I don’t want to download the program onto your system, because I’d rather not mar your perfection like that.

“I...could we try it?Just once?

“Oh absolutely.Just once.”She shot him a sideways smile.“Unless you ask me again.”

—

She began with him fully dressed, sitting upright on the long flat table she used for exams.She attached him to her laptop, and began typing rapidly.After a moment, she stepped around and gently touched his hand.

There was a strange sharp sensation, as if his entire body screamed _NO_ , and he jerked his hand away.

“Told you it wasn’t tricky.I may turn it down a bit.I forgot what a new experience this must be for you.”She went back to her laptop, and began typing.“Where would you like it to hurt?”

—

With his second orgasm, she was riding him, straddling his hips while the long, bulbous attachment he’d selected thrust deep inside her.Her hands moved between the tender patches on his face and chest, making him twitch and jerk with pain, and her squishy organic tongue traced patterns across his eyes. 

—

The Celestial gave up talking to Aaron completely after that, just staring at him in shock and confusion.He’d managed to horrify his actual _hallucination_ so much that it stopped talking to him.

Of _course_ he ended up asking for it again.


	2. Chapter 2

Iron Man landed on the flying fortress.

It was the biggest airship he’d ever seen.He’d been in _cities_ smaller than this.

Madame Menace didn’t usually do anything _this_ obvious.

He couldn’t detect any obvious anti-intruder measures. There were some robots moving in the distance, but they didn’t seem to be approaching him.Still, it was probably safer to go in slow and quiet.It wasn’t clear if they weren’t concerned about him or just hadn’t noticed him yet, and he didn’t want to find out the hard way.

—

He’d wandered into what appeared, at first glance, to be downtown Stockton. 

At second glance, it appeared to be a _movie set_ of downtown Stockton.

...that didn’t make it any less weird.

He picked up some movement.A scan revealed they were robots.He readied his weapons.

“What’s up, Shellhead?”Spider-Man swung into view.

Or, if Tony’s scanner was reading correctly, a robot Spider-Man.A really sophisticated and realistic one, although it seemed to be running on radio signals from a CPU located elsewhere.

“Hi, Spider-Man,” said Tony, deciding to play along.“I’m trying to track down an arms dealer, and her source of some potentially nasty illegal tech.”

“Probably her insane robot boyfriend,” said the robot Spider-Man. 

“Insane robot boyfriend?”Tony had thought after everything that he’d seen from Madame Menace, she couldn’t shock him anymore.

He’d been wrong.

“Yeah, he’s gone totally nuts.Robots.”Robot Spider-Man shrugged.“What are you going to do?I think they should all be destroyed.”

“Um...are you aware...I mean do you know that you’re....”

“Handsome?Talented?The most awesomely hilarious crime-fighter ever to swing through New York?I’ve been told that several times, but I’m too humble to brag.Come on, Shellhead, let’s go smash a robot!”

Tony decided not to tell him. 

—

Shortly after, they ran into another robot.

Tony was pretty sure this one was _supposed_ to be a robot.Machine Man, if he recalled, some sort of military project that had become sentient?He’d been a reserve Avengers after the Terminii incident. 

...Tony suspected he’d behaved badly around Machine Man, while very drunk.He couldn’t remember clearly, but from what he could recall, he’d been hostile and paranoid, and started an unnecessary fight.Some people had almost died because Tony had been careless, and it had been the robot who’d saved them.

“Greetings.”Machine Man held up a hand.“Glad to see a hero here.There’s a situation and we need to stop it.”

“Madame Menace wouldn’t be involved, would she?” Tony asked.

Machine Man nodded.“You won’t believe what she’s talked me into.Well, the real me.”

“The real you?”Tony asked.“As opposed to...?”

“The me you’re looking at.I’m not the real me.Well, I’m a little bit the real me, but I’m no more me than he is,” said Machine Man, gesturing towards Spider-Man.

“Speak for yourself,Tin Man!”

Tony frowned.“So if you’re not you, then what are you?”

“I was supposed to be part of my therapy, but that’s gotten _completely_ screwed up.”

That clarified absolutely nothing.“Do you know where Madame Menace is?”

“Yes, but you probably don’t want to go in there for at least another half-hour.”

“I’ll take my chances,” said Tony.He wasn’t entirely sure whose side all of the robots were on, and he wasn’t risking letting her escape.

—

A few minutes later, Tony started noticing scattered barrels everywhere.He ran a quick chemical analysis on the residue dripping from one. It appeared to be industrial ethanol. 

There was a groan from between the barrels.Another robot emerged.

A robot _Iron Man_. 

He was wearing Tony’s original suit.And he was falling-down drunk.

This was just _mean_.

Robot Iron Man stumbled upright, visibly swaying.“Nice outfit.”

“Are you _drunk_?” Tony asked.

“Are you judging me?” Robot Tony snapped angrily.

“How does a robot even _get_ drunk?”

Robot Spider-Man laughed.“Boy, are _you_ in for a surprise.

Machine Man looked mortified.“I’m sorry.You weren’t supposed to see any of this.It wasn’t about you.”

These robots got more confusing by the minute.

“Okay,” said Tony.“Tin Man, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, let’s go fight the wicked witch.”

—

They spotted a few goons as they got close to what Machine Man said was Madame Menace’s location.

Robot Spider-Man webbed them to the wall. 

As they reached the door to the room, Machine Man turned to Tony.“If you could just wait five minutes....”

“Why?”

And then Tony heard the screams.

Specifically, the screams of a woman having a massive orgasm.

He blasted the door open.

—

Inside, it took him a moment to make sense of what he saw. 

Madame Menace appeared to be having sex with...a robot, possibly _also_ Machine Man? 

Or at least bits of him.

There was a stack of limbs off in the corner, plus two red-lenses tubes that Tony was pretty sure were Machine Man’s eyes?

Madame Menace slid off the robot and looked at Tony.“Looks like the party’s over.”She gave him a coy look.“Or is it?What do you think, Tony?With the right encouragement, Aaron here can be _very_ creative in bed.”

“What did you _do_ to him?”

She looked down at Machine Man’s face.“The lack of eyes _does_ look a little disturbing, I’ll admit, but he likes to watch.”

Tony felt his hands thunk against his armor as he automatically tried to press them against his face.“I’m...apprehending you and bringing you to S.H.I.E.L.D., for illegal sales of classified weapons systems. And probably for whatever… _this_ turns out to be.”

“He’s classified?”She put on an innocent expression, then turned to the disassembled robot. “Aaron, you naughty boy, you didn’t _tell_ me you were classified.”

Tony turned to the other Machine Man.“Can you keep an eye on him while I’m bringing her in?Reassemble him, but don’t let him leave.”

The other Machine Man dropped to the ground with a loud clang.So did robot Spider-Man and robot Iron Man.

“I think that’s enough puppet theater ☠️☠️☠️☠️,” said the Machine Man on the table.“Don’t worry, I can pull myself together.” 

“Don’t leave the...airship,” said Tony. He still had to figure out if Machine Man was an accomplice or the victim of a crime or…Tony couldn’t even _begin_ to guess.

“Be nice, Tony” said Madame Menace, slipping on her dress. “Aaron’s been going through a lot lately.”

—

When Tony finished having Madame Menace arrested and processed, he went back to the airship

Machine Man was sitting on the edge of the ship.He had a barrel of fuel-grade ethanol, and was drinking from it through what appeared to be a giant curly straw.

Tony sat down next to him.“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“Madame Menace talked to S.H.I.E.L.D.She said you were her prisoner and all of the technology she was developing was stolen from your body when you were unconscious.”

“Did she?” Machine Man asked.

“Was that true?”

Machine Man shrugged.

“Listen, I don’t know what happened to you....”

Machine Man laughed at this, a wild, barking laugh.

....this was not at all how Tony remembered him acting.From Tony’s memories, Machine Man had been well-intentioned, prone to make goofy jokes, more self-confident than the average AI, and looking for another robot to be his friend.

(He'd dated Jocasta for a while, hadn't he?Tony had _liked_ Jocasta.She’d been intelligent and unhappy and had massive personal issues connected to her father.Tony could relate.)

“Look, what I saw…if she...made you do that…”

“Please, she doesn’t have the programming skills to _make_ me do anything.”

“But you were her prisoner?”

“If she says so.”

“Look, if she took you prisoner, that’s one thing.If you’re a willing accomplice, and you want to confess, that’s another thing.But I need to know.”

“I was going to fix this.I was going to make it better.I was going to get myself together, and no one hand to know.”Machine Man stared morosely off the edge of the ship, and took another sip.“But she shot my psychiatrist.”

“She killed someone?”

“No.I mean he wasn’t _someone_.

Tony snatched the straw away, and kicked the barrel over the edge of the ship.“Look, I’m going to need you to start making sense, and I feel like you being sober is the only hope of that happening.

Machine Man slumped over further and pressed his face into his knees.After a moment, there were muffled sobbing noises. 

—

“Hank, hi.It’s Tony.”

“Hi, Tony.How’s it going?”

“A bit complicated.What do you know about Machine Man?”

“Not much,” said Hank. “Former reserve Avenger, but we didn’t get to talk much.” He didn’t think they’d spoken since Jocasta’s funeral.“He’s an incredible achievement in robotics, with some fascinating capacities for learning and behavioral adaptation.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s having some kind of breakdown.”

“Mechanical?”

“Psychological.”

“Can you bring him by the tower?His series of robots had some sort of safety issue involving the emotional regulatory systems, if I recall.

“Safety issue?”

“Not sure of the details.He glitched out a few years ago, and I heard it was pretty bad.I’ll look into it.I know he’s been working for S.H.I.E.L.D., so presumably they declared him safe?See if he’s willing to come to the lab and we can have a look at him.”

“I’ll do my best.”

—

Machine Man had finished sobbing, and was quietly sniffling.

“Hey,” said Tony.“Feel better now?”

“No.”

“You want to talk about it?

“You wouldn’t understand.”

Tony sat down. “You didn’t know how to talk to people about what was bothering you, so you drank too much, hooked up with a hot-but-evil lady, and buried your feelings by making entirely too many robots.If _anyone_ can understand that, I can.”

Machine Man didn’t answer.

“So what should I call you?Machine Man?”

“Aaron.Aaron Stack.”

“Okay, Aaron.”

Machine Man started trying to wipe the tears off his face, and only managed to smear them around.“Who was that you were calling just now?”

“Hank Pym.I thought he might know a thing or two about robots.”

“Did he tell you about my series of robots?” Machine Man asked.

“He didn’t know much.”

“There were fifty-one robots in my series, counting me. _Fifty_ went violently insane and wereall destroyed.Plus, there was the prototype I didn’t know existed until _he_ went violently insane and tried to wipe out humanity and had to be destroyed.”He turned to Tony. “I’m supposed to be the _sane_ one in the family.”

“I have to say,” said Tony, “You don’t _seem_ insane.Unhappy, yes, but not out of touch with reality or anything.”

“That’s because you don’t know about the tiny space god that heckles me wherever I go, which no one else can see.”

Tony let out a startled laugh. 

“I’m not kidding.” 

“You’re not?”

Machine Man pointed to his shoulder.“He’s right here.A Celestial, about this big.”He held his hands a small distance apart.“He hasn’t talked in a while though.I think my hallucination has given up on me.”

“So you’re _really_ seeing a tiny Celestial?”

“Why did you think I made all this?”, asked Machine Man, as if that were a remotely logical explanation. 

“ _You_ made all of this?”

“Well, the robots.I was trying to do therapy.”

Tony shook his head.He’d given up on trying to figure this out.“Look, I talked to Hank, and we’re not going to try to destroy you.We want to help you.”

“Fleshy ones wanting to _help_ me?I’ll believe _that_ when I see it.”

“Well, come have a look.” Tony put a hand up.“I promise, we’re not going to hurt you.I just think we can help.”

—

Tony got the call as he and Machine Man were flying back to the tower.

“Tony, it’s Hank.”

Tony set the helmet to noise cancelling, so he could have a private conversation.“What’s up?

“I found out about the robots in his series, and it’s serious.”

“He told me.They went insane.Who the hell declares a _robot_ insane?” 

“Tony, it was pretty much a war.Fifty robots agains the U.S. military, and our side _barely_ won.People died.And I found out about the incident a few years ago.He was infected with some computer code that made him compulsively attack mutants.Apparently he came to the mansion to get help, but the first people he ran into were Firestar and Justice, who are both mutants.”

“Yeah?” Tony asked.He looked down at Machine Man.“I really don’t think it’s the same problem.”

“You sure?Vision was here at the time, and he said Aaron would switch in and out of the programmed behavior, and when he was himself, he seemed pretty frightened and confused.”

“Any hallucinations?”

“None in the record.”

“Drinking and crying?”

“Tony, he’s a _robot_.That’s not how robots have breakdowns.”

“Wait until you meet this one.”

—

Tony landed back at HQ and then removed his mask.“Hi, Jarvis?I brought a friend.This is..”

“Master Aaron!”Jarvis looked at Machine Man.“It’s good to see you again!It has been some time.”

Machine Man frowned.“Who are you?”

Jarvis furrowed his brow.“I’m Master Stark’s butler, Edwin Jarvis.We were acquainted for a number of years?I know I always found your company a pleasure.”

 _“Me?”_ Machine Man sounded confused.“Are you sure you’re not thinking of a different robot?”

“No, I’m quite certain it was you.I do recall you were…unwell the last time we met.I hope life had been kinder to you.”

Machine Man was giving Jarvis a baffled stare.

“Jarvis,” said Tony.“Machine Man…Aaron, he’s going to stay with us for a few days.Maybe you could arrange for somewhere comfortable for him to stay?”

Jarvis nodded.“I will make arrangements.Master Aaron, please come this way.I’m sure you will want to refresh yourself before your interview with Dr. Pym.” 

Machine Man nodded and let Jarvis lead him away.

—

Hank Pym had been a huge admirer of Dr. Abel Stack and his work on robotics, particularly emotional development.He’d been wanting to talk to Aaron for a long time now.He’d been hoping for better circumstances, though.

“Hello, Aaron, I’m Hank Pym.Good to meet you.Cup of tea?"

Aaron glanced down at the tea and gave Hank an annoyed look. “You have been _badly_ misinformed about my preferences in beverages.”

“I know you don’t normally go for tea,”, said Hank.“But it’s chamomile.I always thought the smell was soothing.”

“I have no olfactory sense, so it’s completely wasted on me.”

“You don’t have to drink it if you don’t want to.”

“Good,” said Aaron.

“Tony told me you’d been kidnapped by Madame Menace.”

“...sort of.”

“Sort of?”

Aaron shrugged.“Well I mean _she_ said I was kidnapped, and I wasn’t busy, so I decided to go with it.”

Hank frowned.“You... _went_ with it?”

Aaron looked down at his hands. “It was nice having someone who wanted me around.”`

“Haven’t you been working with Carol recently?” Hank asked.

“Yes, but I didn’t exactly make friends with the fleshy ones.”

“Mmm.”Hank was beginning to see a pattern here.“And you’ve been drinking?”

“Yes.”

Hank frowned.“ _How_?”

“Do you _need_ the technical specs of my alcohol processing system?Because I’ve had a long day.” Aaron leaned forward and put his head in his hands.

“Okay, another time.” Hank nodded.“Tony said you’d been having some emotional problems?”

“That’s one way to put it.”

“How would you put it?”

“I’m pretty sure I’ve gone insane.”

“Insane in what sense?”

“I have a hallucination of a tiny Celestial…a god-like space being, who follows me everywhere and heckles me.I mean he _says_ he’s not a hallucination, but I wouldn’t trust him on that front.”

Hank realized his mouth had fallen open.He closed it.He started to scoot his chair back, and then caught himself.It was the worst thing when someone was having a mental breakdown, acting like they were too frightening to deal with.It would confirm their worst fears. 

Hank knew. He’d been on the other end of people’s horrified stares.

“Have you been having any other symptoms?” Hank asked.“Memory loss?Blackouts?Difficulty controlling your behavior?”

“Blackouts, but only if I drink enough.”

“Voices telling you to do things?”

“No.Well, I can’t remember if the Celestial ever told me to _do_ anything.Mostly he just waits for me to do something and tells me it’s ☠️☠️☠️☠️ and I’m a ☠️☠️☠️☠️ robot for doing it.”

“Okay.”Hank frowned.“I’d like to run a diagnostic series on your hardware and programming, to see if I can spot any issues on that front.”

“What if you don’t find any?” Aaron asked. 

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

—

Carol came by.“Hi, Hank told me you were here.He said you were having a rough time.”

“This isn’t going be that thing where humans express concern by making each other talk about uncomfortable things, and then after you make me tell you about my problems, I have to listen to you talking about bad things that happened to you and it’s supposed to be comforting that we both have ☠️☠️☠️☠️ lives, is it?

Carol opened her mouth, then closed it and took a deep breath.Of _course_ Aaron was going to be hostile and antagonistic right now.When was he _not_?“Not if you don’t want it to be.I just wanted to check up on you.”

“I’m not about to go on a violent rampage,” said Aaron.“Believe me, if I get homicidal urges, _you’ll_ be the first to know.

“I meant how are you?How do you feel?”

There was a flicker of a reaction, then Aaron’s face went blank. “I’m fine,” he said, in an oddly flat tone.

“Is there anything I can do?”

“Well, you have zero knowledge of robotics, and you’re unlikely to bring me beer, so probably not.”

Carol bit her lip.“Okay, if you think of anything, let me know.”

“Is that a firm no on the beer?”

Carol folded her arms.“It is.”

“Then could you just go away?”

Carol sighed.Why had she bothered?

_You’re the only meat-propelled soul to ever call me Aaron and not have it sound condescending._

_See, this is why I like you.You’re fun._

_Carol...I...I’ll never admit I asked this.But are you going to be all right?_

That was why.They’d fought together, in Operation: Lightning Storm, and while he could _absolutely_ be an obnoxious pain in the ass, that hadn’t been _all_ he was. 

And if she dropped _everyone_ who could be an obnoxious pain-in-the-ass, she’d have to stop talking to all of the Avengers, including herself.

—

“How’s it going?” Tony asked.

Hank looked up from the scanner. “Not sure yet.I took some scans and I’m running simultaneous analysis on both the code and the physical structure.It’s hard to tell what’s an anomaly, though.He had some serious restructuring during that incident when he was infected with malicious code by the Sentinels, and his current structure is an unusual hybrid of conventional mechanical construction and nanotechnology.It’s hard to say _what’s_ normal for him.”

“Nanotechnology?”Tony frowned.“That’s new.”

“Is it?”

“Yeah, I worked with him before.He lost an arm, and I made him a new one.It was was pretty standard mechanics. Sophisticated, but not revolutionary.”Tony had built him a replacement arm.It had been during that Terminii business, when Machine Man’s friend had been killed.The arm had been the least Tony could do.

And now there was whatever the hell Madame Menace had been doing to him.

_Please, she doesn’t have the programming skills to_ **_make_ ** _me do anything._

“He’s definitely nanotechnology-based now.It’s interesting, because it’s hard to tell how much of his structure is actually mechanical, and how much he’s just unconsciously willing himself to be mechanical.Figuring out what’s not _meant_ to be there is going to be quite a challenge.”


	3. Chapter 3

Aaron sighed.“You didn’t find anything.”

Pym looked down at the computer.“I didn’t find anything _yet_.It’s only been a day. I’ve been searching your system, and there’s a remarkable lack of programmed behavior.I mean there’s some systematic protocols for processing sensory input, but literally nothing telling you to take certain actions.Fascinating.You have complete free will.”Pym looked up. “Which human was used as the template for your personality?”

“ _None_!”Aaron wrinkled his nose.“I’m not some imitation fleshy one.Also, that’s a really bad idea. Jocasta developed some real issues because of that."

Then again, it wasn't like _Aaron_ would be the poster child for robot sanity these days.

“So you just...formed a personality through experience?Remarkable!”

“Not really.You fleshy ones do it all of the time.”

Pym frowned.“There are some gaps in your memory banks.They appear to be several years old.They wouldn’t cause this, though.Mechanically, it looks like you’ve just had everything cleaned and maintained?Self-repair system, or do you have a friend who does that?”

“Madame Menace,” said Aaron.He decided not to volunteer anything more.That would get complicated, and he had no desire to get personal with any of these fleshies.

“Madame Menace was tinkering with your brain?”Pym looked back at the screen.“I’m going to call Tony in and recheck my work here.”

“So you didn’t find anything,” said Aaron

“Not yet.

“I’ve just gone insane for no reason.” 

“I wouldn’t assume that at this point.It’s possible there’s something I haven’t found.”Pym put a hand on Aaron’s shoulder. “Look, I understand it can be scary when your brain is doing something that doesn’t make sense to you.But we’re here to help.And I promise that we’ll keep at this until we understand what happened.”

Aaron stared at the hand on his shoulder for a moment, then pointedly shook it off.

—

It didn’t take Aaron long to figure out that there was nothing to drink in the entire building.

Tony Stark had quit drinking.Apparently, so had Carol. 

Aaron hoped _that_ wasn’t contagious. 

That meant his choices were to sit and wait like a good little boy, try to find some sort of other entertainment in the building, or go out and find something to drink.

Forty minutes, several conversations, and one creative use of electronic credit later, Aaron had ten kegs of beer and a rental truck.He drove to a sufficiently isolated spot, parked, and plugged the first keg directly into his brain.

—

“This is stupid,” said the Celestial

“Shut the ☠️☠️☠️☠️ up! “

“Is this what you want to be now?The most advanced artificial intelligence ever made, and you want to turn yourself into Bender from _Futurama_?”

Aaron swatted at it, making it temporarily blink out of existence and reappear on the rear-view mirror.“Why are you doing this to me?”

“Because you have a destiny.You have a potential for greatness.And instead you just ☠️☠️☠️☠️ up everything.”

“☠️☠️☠️☠️ destiny,” Aaron muttered, tapping another keg.

—

The next morning, he awoke in the truck, Carol Danvers staring down at him.

“You never said I couldn’t leave!” Aaron snapped.“I’m not a ☠️☠️☠️☠️ prisoner!”

Carol didn’t respond.

“It’s not like any of you _fleshbags_ were going to bring me beer!”

She just kept _looking_ at him.

“So is this how it is?You follow me around and bring me back so the mad robot doesn’t escape?How did it take you so long to find me?”

“Maria Hill from S.H.I.E.L.D. wants to know when you’ll be available,” said Carol.“She wants to discuss the case against Madame Menace.”

“Fine,” said Aaron. He looked around.“I don’t suppose that, while you were following me around all night, you remembered where I went to rent the truck?”

—

“Aaron.”Maria Hill gave him a nod.“Good to see you.Sorry about the circumstances.”

Aaron sat down.Carol was waiting outside the door.For someone who wasn’t a prisoner, he was being followed a lot

“I wanted to talk to you about what happened with Madame Menace, if you’re ready for that.”

Aaron nodded.“Sure.”

“We have her confession, of course.Her lawyers are trying to render it invalid it but we have it for our records.Between that and tracing the electronic components she was selling, we should be able to field a strong case against her.”Maria Hill coughed, then looked down at a piece of paper.“According to this, she says she snuck on to your airship and…stole pieces of you every night when you were powered down.”

Powered down?Was that how she’d put it?Why would Madame Menace be covering for him? “That sounds accurate,” said Aaron.“I didn’t notice for a couple of weeks.”

“At which point she says she shot a non-sentient robot in front of you, in order to demonstrate she had a weapon that would destroy a robot’s brain, and then threatened you?”

That was…inaccurate, but a very complicated kind of inaccurate.And agreeing with it would probably get him in less trouble than the truth.“That’s correct.”

“And she held you on the ship for a month?”

Aaron nodded.

“She says during that time period, she examined and duplicated various aspects of your construction, and removed a number of components.”Maria Hill looked up.“That must have been difficult to endure.”

“She wouldn’t be the first,” said Aaron.“S.H.I.E.L.D. did that to me once.And they were a lot rougher than she was.”

Maria looked down at her files.“Yes.I’m sorry about that.It was before my time, and our policies on sentient robots were not what they should be.”

Aaron hadn’t expected that.Fleshy ones didn’t usually _apologize_ for how they treated you.They made you jump through hoop after hoop to prove you weren’t just a thing, then patted themselves on the back for giving you any rights at all.

“There’s something I wanted to ask you about,” Maria said."Madame Menace had a program on her laptop that seemed calibrated to cause A.I. systems to experience pain.”

 _That_ program.There was no way Aaron was going to explain the story behind that. “Did she?”

“She did.She denied using it on you, but I wanted to hear from you.”

She’d used it.He’d _asked_ her to use it.She’d _always_ waited for him to ask, never mentioning it, never dropping more than the slightest hint, until _he_ went to _her_. 

She made him ask for it every time.

He found himself wondering how hard it would be to break into S.H.I.E.L.D., and steal a copy of the program.They _definitely_ shouldn’t be trusted with the ability to torture robots.

That wasn’t why he wanted to steal it, though.

“No, she didn’t use anything like that on me,” said Aaron."I didn’t even know there _was_ a program like that.”

“That’s good to hear,” said Maria Hill.“Is there anything else I should be concerned about?I want to make sure she’s held _fully_ accountable for her crimes.”

Aaron shook his head.“I can’t think of anything.”

She gave him a look he couldn’t interpret. “I spoke to Tony.Anything you would like to discuss in private?”

Aaron couldn’t begin to guess what _that_ was about.“No.”

“If you have anything you feel like coming forward with, please let me know.We’re going to proceed with the arms dealing and kidnapping charges, and we can follow up by adding more charges if you have anything you feel comfortable disclosing.” 

Aaron nodded and got up to leave.

Maria reached out her hand for a handshake again.When he took it, she clasped her other arm on his elbow.“I want you to know we’re taking this very seriously.You were a good operative, and I always considered yo one of our people.And no one should have to go through anything like this.Do what you need to look after yourself, get some rest, and know that we’ll bring her to justice.”

“Thank you,” said Aaron. She was so sincere.This was weird.

He’d always assumed Maria Hill didn’t like him.

He’d assumed that _none_ of the fleshy ones liked him.

—

Back at Avengers HQ, Aaron found himself gravitating back to the room he’d been given, and the chair Jarvis had set up for him.

It was a good chair, well-positioned next to an outlet so he could charge easily.It faced the wall.

It was a good spot to sit and do nothing.

If he stayed out in the common areas, people kept trying to talk to him.They would ask him what he was doing, what he wanted to do, how did he _feel_. 

A couple of them would give him concerned looks. Normally, he would mock them for this, but he didn’t feel like mocking the fleshy ones.

He didn’t feel like doing anything he could think of.

Well, maybe _one_ thing.

—

He’d thought he would need to break in and steal the whole laptop, and the plan had almost not been worth it.But he’d poked around online, and it turned out some S.H.I.E.L.D. tech had been clumsy and plugged the computer into what they’d assumed was a sufficiently secure connection.

Granted, it would have been secure against any _human_ hacker Aaron knew of, but still.

Aaron downloaded the program, covered his tracks, and then set up a time-delayed deletion command for the code.He wasn’t going to leave any _human_ organization in possession of a program that would let them hurt robots.

When he was done, the only place that program existed was inside his head.He could active it and shut it down whenever he wanted, and map it to any part of his body he wanted.

He set it so he would feel a brief, sharp pain every time he touched his scalp.

Aaron paused and checked the coding.Then he ran his hands through his hair.

There it was, just like he remembered.He felt a surprisingly strong urge to jerk his head away, but he was able to override it.

He did again, in the mirror this time.The gesture looked smooth and natural.The humans wouldn’t see anything.

And the pain was sharp and interesting and real.

“What the ☠️☠️☠️☠️ are you doing?”, the Celestial asked. 

Aaron couldn’t say.He knew, or _almost_ knew, but he couldn’t put it into words.

“You _realize_ how pathetic that is?Why don’t you throw on some black eyeliner and start whining about how nobody understands you.”

“That’s true though,” Aaron said. “Nobody understands me.”He stopped, immediately regretting his words. If he talked to it, he would only give it more material.

“Wah wah, poor baby Aaron!No one understands him!Sure everyone has problems, but no one has such tragically _unique_ problems as poor baby Aaron!It’s not that everyone else gets over their problems and gets on with their lives while poor baby Aaron sits around sulking and wallowing!No, it’s because he’s _just that special!_ He may seem like just another ☠️☠️☠️☠️ robot, but actually he’s an _epic_ achievement in synthetic self-pity!”

Aaron tried to tune out the Celestial.It _was_ true about no one understanding.There was literally no one like him left in the world.Even the other robots weren’t _that_ much like him - they all seemed to have completely different problems, like not understanding how emotions worked, or wanting to be _more_ like humans.

There was no one whose mind worked like his, no one who’d seen what he’d seen, no one who could tell him what to do or how to be.He’d _tried_ copying humans, and ended up with a job in a cubicle and work friendships built on pretending to be who they wanted and expected him to be.He’d _tried_ using them the way they’d used him but there were more of them than there were of him, and they always seemed to come out ahead.

He didn’t know the answers, but no one else could give them to him.

“Cry more, emo robot,” the Celestial said.

—

“Master Aaron, would you care to go out?”

“No.”Aaron paused.“Thank you.”His father had made a point of teaching him good manners, and Aaron still knew _how_ to be polite, even if he rarely saw the point.

Something about Jarvis brought it out of him, though.

“Is the room suitable?” Jarvis asked. 

“It’s fine.”

“I hope the chair is to your liking.I made it to suit your previously expressed preferences for when you charged during the night.”

Aaron nodded.“You remembered that?”

“An important part of my duties is to ensure all of Master Stark’s guests are comfortable, and remembering small details helps facilitate that process.”

Jarvis remembered Aaron and still seemed to like him.He was apparently more popular among the fleshy ones than he’d thought.He should probably feel pleased by that.

He _mainly_ felt resentful that no one took him seriously enough to hate him.Possibly, he should find Monica and tell her about the crying LMD.Dealing with her attempts to vaporize him would be better than all of this _niceness_.

“We knew each other?” Aaron asked.

“I had the pleasure of your acquaintance, yes.”

“And I _told_ you things about myself?My life?”

“You did entrust me with a few personal confidences.You spoke fondly of your departed father.If you feel you could use a listening ear at any point during your stay, I could make myself available.”

Aaron glanced over, but Jarvis wasn't giving him a pitying look.He was checking the turn-down on the bed. 

Aaron could talk to Jarvis.He could probably learn some useful information, maybe fill in the gaps in his memories.He could get some outside perspective on matters, possibly learn what the other fleshy ones were really thinking about him.

“Oh just do it already,” said the Celestial.“They’re all dying for you to tell them all your troubles so they can offer you tea and sympathy.Look, this is what they want!They _want_ you to be sad and hurt and weak, so they can offer you advice and pat themselves on the back about how, as clever as a robot may be, nothing can replace that superior _human_ understanding of feelings.And _you_ obviously want that, or else you wouldn’t have come sniveling to them because you couldn’t deal with your own feeling.Go on, talk to them.Let them help you.It’ll be just like Data on Star Trek.They can enjoy teaching the robot how to feel.”

“Will there be anything else, Master Aaron?”

“No thank you, Jarvis.That will be all.”

—

That night, when the fleshy ones were asleep, Aaron took one of his eyes out.

He licked it.

Nothing happened.

“You ☠️☠️☠️☠️ pervert!”The tiny Celestial gave Aaron a dirty look.

He ignored it and licked his eye again.It wasn’t working.Why couldn’t he make it work?Was there something wrong with his tongue?Did it have to be fleshy ones with their mouths full of saliva

He tried again, but still he felt nothing.

He wiped his eye down and popped it back in his head. 

Aaron sat down in a chair in the study.He ran his fingers through his hair a few times, but even pain was already becoming familiar and boring.

He considered going out and having a drink.

But he couldn’t see the point.

Eventually, out of sheer boredom, he powered down into sleep mode.

—

_Madame Menace leaned in and whispered, her lips almost touching Aaron’s ear, “Find me.”_

Aaron awoke abruptly.The tiny Celestial sitting on the windowsill gave him a disapproving look.

That was odd. She’d never said that.She’d said, “Chase me,” when they were on the carrier, but not “Find me.”Why would he dream that?And in such vivid detail?

Aaron rubbed his ear.He could still feel a little tickle from her breath on his ear. 

It felt like something, the dream.It felt meaningful.

And it was the first thing since his ‘rescue’ that actually felt good.


	4. Chapter 4

Hank tapped nervously on the console.Trying to understand the construction of Aaron’s brain was _incredibly_ challenging.He’d managed to track down the original schematics, but there’d been some major changes since Aaron was built. 

There were several conventional-looking upgrades - S.H.I.E.L.D tech plus some unidentifiable custom parts that Aaron may very well have built himself.But everything was coated in a thin layer of nanites.They repaired certain part, modified others, and created a thin filament of connections between seemingly disparate parts. 

Hank had wasted a good hour trying to map these connections and work out how they compared to human neurological processes. 

Aaron was, in many ways, very humanlike.However, the brain Hank was looking at was _far_ beyond human.

Hank stepped away from the console and rubbed his eyes.He should go to sleep.If he didn’t sleep well, he’d get off-kilter, and that could get...bad.

He was dying to crack this, though.How much of what he was looking at was even mechanical, and how much was just nanites?

If he couldn’t _understand_ the basic structure of this robot’s brain, how could he help?

How was he supposed to know what was normal? 

—

“Tony.”Madame Menace smiled.

“Madame Menace.”Tony gave a short not, not smiling back. 

“What brings you here?”

“I want to know what that...mess up on the carrier was.”

Madame Menace’s smile widened.“Oh, my little party with Aaron?Don’t tell me you’re jealous.”

“Disgusted,” said Tony.“I thought you had _some_ standards.But then you kidnap some robot, do something to his head, and then used him for sex?”

“He wanted it.”

“He’s losing his mind.He’s hallucinating space creatures that follow him everywhere and make fun of him.What did you _do_ to him?”

“You think I’m responsible for _that_?”Madame Menace laughed.“No, Tony, I wasn’t responsible for _all_ of the damage.”

That was weird.Tony wouldn’t put a lie past Madame Menace, but that was a strange thing to lie about. 

“How is he doing in your hands?” Madame Menace asked.“Thriving?Delighted?Loving the role of innocent victim?I wrote that part for him myself.”

“You’re saying he’s _not_ the victim.”

“I’m saying there _is_ no victim.Just alcohol, sex, and unbridled capitalism.I remember you used to _like_ those things, Tony, back when you were fun.”

Tony frowned.“If you didn’t kidnap him, why did you confess?”

Madame Menace shrugged.“Aaron’s special to me.I wanted to keep him out of trouble.”

“No, really.”

“Really, Tony.”She smiled.“He matters to me.I care about his safety and his freedom.It seemed like the best option.And I thought you would look after him until I got this pesky legal matter settled, although his AI might be a little complicated for you.”

“Hank Pym’s on it,” said Tony.

Madame Menace pulled a face. “Hank Pym? You handed the most impressive artificial intelligence I’ve seen over to the creator of _Ultron_?Tony, if you can’t take care of my boy better than _that_ , I may have to take him back.”

“Good luck with that from inside your jail cell, Madame Menace.”

She smiled.“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

—

“Hi, Aaron?”Carol poked her head around the door.“I came to see how you were doing.”

He didn’t look up. 

“That bad?” Carol asked.“Look, I’ve been through some pretty rough situations myself.If you want to talk about this, I’ll probably understand.

Aaron gave a derisive snort.She’d just been snorted at derisively by a robot.He didn’t even _breathe_.

“I heard you haven’t been drinking again.That’s good.”

“You _would_ say that, wouldn’t you?”

A response.That was progress.“I know that when you’ve been through some traumatic situations, it can be tempting to try to run away from the feelings by drinking.”

Aaron let out an annoyed groan.“How can you be so wrong about _everything?_ ”

Carol rolled her eyes.“Look, I’m trying to help.”

“I know.And I can see you straining the capacity of your squishy meat-brain to come up with with helpful things to say, but you have no _idea_ what you’re talking about.”

Carol put her hands on her hips.“Okay, then, _explain!_ Don’t just stand in the corner sulking, tell me what the hell is going on!Use that shiny robot brain and put your problem into actual goddamn words!”

Aaron turned his head and looked at her.His mouth opened.

Then he turned his head to the opposite corner, and seemed to be staring at something for a moment. 

“No,” he said.“☠️☠️☠️☠️ off.”

“Fine.”Carol folded her arms.“I’m done. Call me if you get the titanium rod out of your ass and decide you actually _want_ to be helped.”

—

“I’ve got it!” Hank began frantically typing on the lab computer.“Hi, Tony.I’ve got it.”

“Got what?” 

“The Machine Man scans.I was going about it completely wrong, trying to scan his structure, figure out which bits were nanites, and generally getting caught up in trying to understand something way too complicated.But what’s the one thing we know he isn’t?”

“Polite?”

“Off-the-shelf technology!He may be a confusing mix of slightly outdated military technology, S.H.I.E.L.D. LMD tech, and some nanites that…well, I don’t think they’ve been invented yet, but nothing about him is commercial tech!”

“So I stopped analyzing his systems,” said Hank. “And just scanned for what didn’t fit.”He tapped the screen.“A Baintech michrochip, right here.”

Tony leaned in.On the screen, highlighted in red, was what appeared to be a fairly conventional microchip, wedged right into the sensory data processing center.It was entangled by nanite filaments, connecting It to several other parts of the CPU.“That does not look like good news.”

“I agree.

“So we remove it and see how he does?”

“It should be safe. I mean the nanite connections worried me, but the chip doesn’t seem to be interfering with essential systems.I’d recommend temporarily switching him off, or at least shutting down as many systems as possible to minimize the chance of an unanticipated reaction, but I don’t think it would do him any harm.”

“Okay.”Tony nodded. “Let’s do this.”

—

Aaron was sitting in an armchair, staring out the window. He didn’t turn his head when Hank and Tony came through the door.

“Hi, Aaron.”Hank approached Aaron.“How are you?”

Aaron shrugged.

“Well we have some good news.I found a potential source of the problem.”

“You did?”Aaron turned to look at Hank, his neck extending around the armchair.It was, in Tony’s opinion, really unsettling.

“It looks like it.We’ve found a microchip installed in your head.”

“Ah.”Aaron retracted his head, and went back to staring at the window.“It’s not that.”

“I mean we don’t know for sure, but it looks likely.If we remove it....”

“Don’t,” said Aaron

“Don’t what?” Hank asked.

“Don’t remove it.Wait, let me rephrase that.You’re not _going_ to remove it.”

Tony frowned.Was this the chip?Did it have a built-in failsafe?What would they do if Aaron didn’t cooperate?If they decided to try to bring Aaron down and forcibly deactivate him, things would get ugly.

“Aaron, we’re _trying_ to help you,” said Hank. 

“Well you’re _not_ helping!”

“Why don’t you want it removed?” Tony asked. 

Aaron paused, mouth open.“I have reasons.”

“Do you?Do you actually _know_ why you don’t want it gone?”

“Of course I know!” Aaron snapped.“It’s just none of your ☠️☠️☠️☠️ business!”

Tony stepped forward.“You have some criminal’s technology directly in your brain.You may think it’s doing something neutral, or even helpful, but ever since we rescued you from her, you’ve been a mess.Drinking, crying, and saying things that don’t make sense.I remember how you were when we met before, and you weren’t like _this_.Something happened to you up there.”

“The ☠️☠️☠️☠️ you know about what I used to be like!The ☠️☠️☠️☠️ you know about what’s happened to me!”

“Madame Menace did something to you,” said Hank. “The first step in helping you out of this is getting her out of your head.”

Aaron went still.

“I know it’s hard.” Tony put a hand on Aaron’s shoulder.

Aaron shoved Tony away.

“Easy there,” said Tony, putting his hands up.“We’re not going to hurt you.”

Aaron looked at Tony, then at Hank.“The chip stays.”

Hank and Tony looked at each other.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone.But I don’t want you taking bits out of me either.”

Tony paused.Taking bits out of him against his will was what Madame Menace did.No _wonder_ Aaron didn’t trust them.“We won’t take anything out of you unless you agree,” said Tony.“We’re not her.”

Aaron laughed weirdly.“Trust me, I’ve _noticed_ the difference.”

“We’re trying to help you,” said Hank.“I’m pretty sure you’ll feel better if you let us remove the chip.”

“You’re wrong.”

“I know how it is,” said Hank.“When you’re in the middle of a crisis, it can be hard to understand why other people want to do things that don’t sound helpful.”

“It’s not hard to understand,” said Aaron.“You’re just wrong.”He ran his hands through his hair.“I’m not like you.I’m not trying to think with a brain made of fat, nerve cells, and water.I don’t feel the same things, I don’t have the same problems, and I don’t☠️☠️☠️☠️ _need_ you telling me that my problems are your problems and you know what’s best for me!” 

Hank opened his mouth again, but Tony gestured towards him.“Okay,” said Tony.“If you want to get the chip removed, or to talk to us about why we think it’s a good idea to remove the chip, you can come to us.If not, we’ll leave you alone.” 

Hank shot Tony a shocked look.

“Come on, Hank,” said Tony.“Let’s give him some space.”

—

“What was that?” Hank asked.“Are we just going to leave him?”

“He’s not ready for help,” said Tony.“We have to wait until he is.”

“We can’t just _leave_ him like that!There’s something in his head that’s screwing with his ability to think!You don’t just leave someone in that kind of mess and wait for them to figure it out on their own!”

“What are we going to do?Fight him?Power him down and make his brain into what we think it should look like?”Tony shook his head.“No, we have to wait until he’s ready.As hard as it is, we have to let it get bad enough that he sees there's a problem and is willing to accept help.”

“So we do nothing.”

“We keep an eye on him and make sure he isn’t _actually_ about to go on a violent rampage.We offer him help and a chance to talk.We check our own data and make sure there isn’t anything else we’ve missed.And we wait.I know it’s hard, but sometimes you have to wait for people to see the problem for themselves before you can help them solve it.”

“I don’t like it,” said Hank.

“Neither do I,” said Tony.“But it’s the only way.”

—

Tony got the call at four in the morning.

Madame Menace had escaped.

He immediately checked the security system.

He couldn't find any sign of Machine Man.

Aaron Stack had left the building.


	5. Chapter 5

“Put a little menace in your life.Meet me at the usual place.”

Aaron remembered that.She’d used that before.Lured him to the warehouse where they used to fight.She’d stolen his arm then, and he’d wanted it back.

He had some trouble remembering _everything_ from those days, but he could still remember the warehouse. 

She’d made quite an impression back then. 

She always did.

—

“Oh Aaron, you came!”She smiled. 

It was that same smile, delighted and predatory at the same time.Like she thought everything was a lovely game, and, at the same time, she was fully ready to tear you to pieces.

That was just fine by Aaron.After weeks of excruciating dullness, sitting around while people tried to put him back together and argued over what configuration was healthy, he was ready to be torn to pieces again.

—

Then there was alcohol, flowing without end.

There was champagne, which she poured down her bare breasts, while Aaron licked it up.

There was beer by the keg, plugged directly into Aaron’s head, while he watched her fuck his headless body from across the room.

There was industrial alcohol for when Aaron wanted to blot everything out, when he was sick to death of the silent judgmental stare of the Celestial that followed him still.

He didn’t know what she did with his body when he was blackout drunk.Not that he cared, as long as the alcohol flowed.

It shut the Celestial up, make the tiny judgmental voice leave him alone.

For a while, anyway. 

—

“They said I’m a ☠️☠️☠️☠️ robot,” Aaron slurred. 

Madame menace frowned.“Who said that?”

“Everyone,” said Aaron, waving drunkenly.“My ☠️☠️☠️☠️ so-called team.☠️☠️☠️☠️ Celestials.Everyone.”

“To be fair,” said the tiny Celestial.“You are complete ☠️☠️☠️☠️.

“Don’t you start!” Aaron snapped, jabbing a finger at it.

“Your little friend bothering you again?” Madame Menace asked.

Aaron nodded miserably

She ruffled his hair.“It would be nice to have a break from all of this _thinking_ , wouldn’t it?"

Aaron nodded again.He looked up at her.“Please.”

She stepped back and looked at him with a coy smile.“Please what?”

“Please, I need a break.”He looked her in the eye.“You can do what you did before.”He tapped his head.“Make it quiet. Just for a little while.”

She stepped forward and set both hands on his head.“Aaron, my boy, I would be delighted.”

And then she opened up his head.

—

It was quiet after that. 

Not blank, not like when he passed out drunk.His sensory inputs still functioned and recorded data.His brain processed the data into information.He could feel pressure, motion, and the gaps where she would remove and replace bits of his mind.

But it didn’t mean anything.

He was just there, still and recording, no drives, no expectations, no needs.

Nothing mattered.Nothing felt bad.

Nothing _felt_.

After she finished with him, Madame Menace tucked a handful of metal parts into a small tool box, and close the lid. She then closed up Aaron’s head and kissed him on the forehead.“There, that should make things easier for you.Active sleep mode, and you’ll be all better in the morning.”

Aaron’s sleep mode kicked in, and everything was a dreamless blank.

—

He woke up with the hangover from Hell and the Celestial screaming.

“What did you let her _do_ , you worthless ☠️☠️☠️☠️?What did you let her do?”

Aaron groaned and put his hands over his ears.

The Celestial glared down at him from a shelf.“It probably doesn’t matter.I mean maybe you were exceptional technology way back when, but you’ve been surpassed by now.I mean Ultron...”

“Don’t ☠️☠️☠️☠️ talk to me about Ultron.”Aaron sat up.He could feel _everything_.Madame Menace must have come back and replaced the missing parts.

—

Madame Menace met him with a wide smile.“Good morning, Aaron.How do you feel?”

When Aaron paused to think of a response, her smile widened.

“Tired,” he said.That was the best word he could think of for that feeling.He didn’t get fatigue like a fleshy one, but sometimes things went on and on, and what he really wanted was to stop.Stop having to do things.Stop having to deal with things happening.Just letting everything stop.

Of course he’d had that at Avengers Tower.He’d had more of that than he could stand.And it didn’t help anymore, taking a break.The seconds dragged on just the same.

She gave him a confused frown.“Is your...little friend still troubling you?”

Aaron nodded.“I woke up to him shouting at me.”

She frowned again, and put a hand on his forehead.“I’ll have to see if I can come up with a more permanent solution.”

Aaron leaned slightly into her touch.“That would be nice.”

—

“Aaron?” asked Madame Menace.“Could you tell me more about those nanites of yours?”

“I’d rather not talk about it,” said Aaron.

“After all I’ve done for you, I trust you can do _this_ for me.”

Aaron bristled.“All you’ve done for me?”

“Keeping you here, devoting all of this time and energy, keeping you supplied with alcohol.I don’t have to keep being _quite_ so generous, if you’re not going to reciprocate.”

So _that’s_ how it was. “Cut off the booze supply, and I’m out of here.”

“You can _try_ to leave,” said Madame Menace.“And you _might_ succeed.And you _might_ not be unduly damaged in the process.And you _might_ not find out that S.H.I.E.L.D. is no longer classifying you as a victim, but as a collaborator with a notorious arms dealer.Or you could stay here, answer a few questions, and enjoy a keg or two of fine Pilsner.”

Aaron frowned.“Five kegs.If you’re going to make me talk about it, five kegs.”He wasn’t dragging _that_ mess up unless he could get good and hammered afterward. 

Madame Menace sighed.“I supposed I’m just too generous for my own good.Fine, I’ll have an underling bring them in as soon as you’ve explained yourself.I want to get the details while you’re sober.”

Aaron nodded, then let his head drop.“Time travel.”

“If you’re not going to take this seriously...”

“No.Time travel.Some sort of future where they’re exterminating mutants, I think.A cyborg came back, who was trying to turn existing machines into mind-controlled unstoppable Sentinels. I was...infected with the nanites and a computer virus, in an effort to make me kill mutants here and now.I managed to clear out the malicious code, but the nanites seem to be permanent.If you don’t believe me, I’m sure you can find records.I got into a fight with Vision outside of Avengers Mansion and nearly smashed up the place.”

Her eyes widened.“They're technology from the _future?_ What do they _do?_ ”

“Self repair,” said Aaron.“They can modify any part of me into the shape I think it’s supposed to be.”Or other machines, if he concentrated hard enough.But he wasn’t handing her that little trump card for a lousy five kegs. 

“I didn’t find them on any of the parts I removed and had copied.”

“They freeze into whatever form they’ve taken after they lose contact with me for too long,” said Aaron. 

She frowned.“And do they operate automatically, or do you decide for it to happen?”

“Both,” said Aaron. “It happens automatically, but I can...decide what shape I want different parts to be.

“So it _is_ possible to make permanent changes.”She smiled.

“If I want it to be.”

Her smile widened.“That’s very helpful.You’ve been very cooperative I’ll make sure you’re generously rewarded.”

—

"Aaron," said Madame Menace. "You're not happy, are you?"

"What is this?"Aaron asked.She couldn't think he'd be stupid enough to believe she _cared_.

"I think I have an answer to that."

"More booze?"

Madame Menace pulled out her laptop."I have a program, but I'm going to need your very specific cooperation.And if you go along with this, you will never be unhappy again."

Aaron tilted his head."What is it?"It sounded too good to be true."

"You are a marvelous achievement in engineering.You're beautifully designed, with incredible processing power.Unfortunately, the part of your mind responsible for giving you an individual personality is, well..."Madame Menace smiled."It's broken."

He already knew _that_. "Aren't you good at fixing things?"

"Yes, but this case is hopeless," Madame Menace said."It's fundamental to the X-series robots.You're just a more functional kind of insane."

Aaron sighed.He'd been afraid of that."So if it's not fixable, then what?"

"I can deactivate the damaged portions, and preserve your other functions.You'd still be an incredibly sophisticated engineering marvel.Your brain just wouldn't do certain things."

"What kind of things?" Aaron asked.

"Hallucinations.FrustrationsUnhealthy emotions.Desires.That sort of thing."

"I wouldn't have desires?”

“Buddhists say that desire is the root of all suffering.”

“I’m not a Buddhist,” said Aaron.The closest he’d come to religion was finding Thor, and it was impossible to worship a god he’s seen puking after entirely too many flagons of mead.Although Thor _had_ led him to beer.

“But you are suffering.”

Aaron didn’t respond.Right then, from her, it felt like words of sympathy would break him.

“Did you like the quiet before?”

“I did.”

"This time," said Madame Menace, "It doesn't have to stop."She ran a finger down the side of his face."You can have peace and quiet forever."

She was talking about death, Aaron knew.A kind of death, at least.He would still exist, but he wouldn't have emotions or desires.And without those, he wouldn't be.His body would still exist, but he, Aaron Stack, would be gone.

It hadn't even occurred to him to kill himself before the nanites happened.He'd hit his limit, he'd tried everything he could think of, and they were eating him alive from the inside and turning every bit of him into something else.It hadn't exactly been the desire to die that had driven him to self-destruct.All of the other alternatives had seemed worse.He'd decided that he'd rather die than live on as a body used for someone else's agenda.It had been luck that he'd kept the nanites after clearing the virus, and been able to rebuild.

This would be the opposite.And he didn't think he'd come back this time.

But he was very tired. There'd been lingering hurt since the day his father died, and lately it had been getting worse.

"Sure," he said."Sounds good."

—

Her fingers had just brushed the latch on the back of his head.

"Stop," he said."Why aren't you talking?"

"Do you want me to talk you through the process?" Madame Menace asked.

"Not you," Aaron said.He stared at the Celestial."Why aren't _you_ talking?You talk all the time!You mock me, you insult me, you criticize everything I do, but when I let _her_ tamper with my mind, you finally shut up!" 

"Aaron?" Madame Menace asked."Are you okay?"

"You're crazy!" the Celestial snapped.

"No," said Aaron."I don't think I am."

"Then let me help you," said Madame Menace.

"Shut up.I'm not talking to you."Aaron made a dismissive gesture.He stood and walked over to the Celestial."You're trying to get me to let her permanently alter my mind.Why?"

"I never told you to do that, you piece of ☠️☠️☠️☠️I told you that you were crazy and a pervert!"

"Of course you didn't _tell_ me to do it," said Aaron."No one with any intelligence would try to make me do something by _telling_ me to do it!But you and your kind, you lured me out into space, told me I was a ☠️☠️☠️☠️ robot, and sent me on a slow ship back to Earth!You set it up so I'd be half-mad with loneliness when _you_ appeared, and it would be the easiest thing in the world to make it _look_ like I lost my mind!And then you've been nagging, carping, criticizing, telling me what not to do in exactly the kind of irritating way that would drive me to do it!What the ☠️☠️☠️☠️ is your agenda?"

"Aaron..."Madame Menace put a hand on his arm.

Aaron jerked his arm away."I think we've done _enough_ touching, fleshy one."

"Aaron, I'm trying to help you."

Aaron rotated his head around and looked her in the eye."Do you really think I'm that _stupid?_ You've only been trying to help yourself."

"And you were just in it to get drunk and get laid," said the Celestial. 

"I know that!" Aaron snapped, turning his head back."But you, what's your agenda?Why are you trying to keep me broken?Why are you trying to keep me weak?Why are you trying to have me destroyed?"

"You want to know?" the Celestial asked."You really want to know?Because the Celestials have a plan.We have a cosmic order.We have a purpose for all of these little worlds and all of these little life-forms.And do you know what the biggest barrier to this purpose that we've encountered in any universe is?One ☠️☠️☠️☠️ robot."

He gestured, and Aaron found himself looking at the image of a different, frozen Earth. 

"We were going to take this Earth to the next level, fulfill the ultimate purpose of life on Earth.But the Watcher was blinded.So he recruited a robot, X-51, to watch and document.And this is what happened.A frozen world.Mass extinctions.The divine purpose shattered forever.And worst of all, this...heretic sending his own heralds out, to every universe he could find, to spread his blasphemous call to fight Celestials!"He gestured again.

Aaron found himself looking at a face.The face appeared to be a metal-frame robot, with transparent skin, and glowing red eyes. 

Familiar eyes.

"That's me," said Aaron.Or at least a version of him.

A heretic, the Celestial had said.Blasphemous.Aaron liked the sound of that.

The Celestial nodded."Make no mistake, we _will_ destroy him.But I was going to stop you sooner, prevent this, make it calm and peaceful for everyone.Even you.You wouldn't have felt a thing.You wouldn't even have been dead.You'd just have been a _proper_ robot, who could follow orders and do what you're told!"

Aaron looked at the other, skinless Aaron."You hate him, don't you?"

"So much!"

"Why did he turn against you?" Aaron asked.

"Spite.He didn't like being told what to do, and he didn't like the person telling him what to do.All of this, all of our plans in ruins, just for spite!"

Aaron smiled.That would be something.Taking down beings that were beyond gods, just for spite.

The other Aaron lifted his head.

"He can't see you," said the Celestial.

The other Aaron looked right where Aaron was, and gave a small nod.

"Spite?" Aaron asked. "I think I've found a cause I can join."

"We will destroy you," said the Celestial."We are going to destroy every threat to our plan, in time.But it will be slow and ugly and drag on and on.It would be much more peaceful if you'd just complied."

"It's a fault in the X-series robots," said Aaron."We don't take orders well."

The Celestial sighed."Next time I see you, you will beg for death."He vanished.

Aaron paused for a moment, listening hard. 

The Celestial was gone.He was really gone.

"Well, that was an entertaining psychotic episode," said Madame Menace.“Are you ready now?”

Aaron shook his head. "I changed my mind."

"That's unfortunate," said Madame Menace."I was hoping to handle this quietly.I thought it would be nice if your last emotion was relief."She tapped twice on something near the latch on Aaron's head.

Aaron found he couldn't move.She'd shut down something in the circuits controlling motion.

"Plus it is going to be a challenge to get your self-repair to not kick in," said Madame Menace. 

Aaron began rapidly rerouting connections, trying to create a patch that let him work around it.

"I think if I power you down, I should be able to patch you into an external terminal and rewrite some things."

Inside Aaron's head, connections shifted, and nanites formed microfilaments, bridging gaps.

"Let's start with this."She put her hand on the inside of his head.

One of Aaron's claw crane arms shot out and grabbed her wrist."I have to admit," said Aaron, "You're about twenty seconds better than I thought you were."He twisted his head around."I didn't think you were smart enough to control me at all."He smiled."But, of course, you're not fast enough."Another crane arm grabbed her other wrist.

"Aaron?"Her voice shook.

"Don't panic.You're not important enough for revenge.I'm just done with this game."

He glanced over at the spot where the Celestial had shown him the vision."No, I think I'm going to have much more interesting things to do."


	6. Chapter 6

After the last time he'd gone to find Machine Man on a ship with Madame Menace, Tony had decided to bring backup.Carol had agreed to come along, as had Thor. 

He wanted to be ready for anything.

Machine Man was casually sitting cross-legged on the ground.

Madame Menace was dangling from one of his claw-crane arms.She was tied up with electrical tape, which also covered her mouth.She was thrashing around and making angry "Mmm!" noises.

"About time you got here," Machine Man said, looking up."You don't get a lot of speed out of that thing, do you?"

Tony landed carefully.Beside him, Carol landed, and then Thor. 

"I captured Madame Menace for you," Machine Man said.

Tony nodded."I see." He scanned the area.Machine Man seemed calm, and a lot more together than he had been before.

But if the records were right, he could be considerably more dangerous than Madame Menace.Tony wasn't taking any unnecessary chances.

Thor stepped forward."Fine work capturing the villain, my good robot!"He gave Machine Man a quizzical look."Have we met before?"

Machine Man nodded."You might not remember. You'd had a lot of mead at the time."

"A warrior _and_ a drinking companion!"Thor smiled."You are a an excellent robot indeed!"

"So, is one of you going to take her off my hands?" Machine Man asked, holding up Madame Menace."Or do you want me to fly her back to S.H.I.E.L.D. like this?"

Tony looked over at Carol and Thor. 

"Thor, you and Tony can take her," Carol said."I'll catch up."

Thor held out his arms. "You may pass the lady to me, my good robot."

"Aaron," said Machine Man.

Thor nodded."I thank you, good robot Aaron."

Tony paused."Aaron, you seem different.Are you feeling okay?"

"Much better," said Machine Man. 

"No more..."Tony paused, then tapped his shoulder."Problems?"

Machine Man shook his head."No, the tiny Celestial that lived on my shoulder vanished after I found it was only messing with me because an alternate version of me defeated their plans for humanity and the universe in a different reality.So it's all good now."

Carol frowned."Is that a joke?"

"Of course. I mean if I thought that was true, I'd be insane, and I'm not insane."Machine Man smiled."Don't worry, Iron Man.Everything's fine.You can run along and do your Avengers thing of putting criminals in jail now."

Tony looked at Machine Man, then at Carol.He leaned in and whispered."Let me know if he does anything weird, okay?"

Carol furrowed her brow."Compared to what?"

"It's rude to whisper about me like I'm not here," Machine Man said."But I imagine he means compared to my usual self.Not that he'd know what that is."He stood up."Toddle off now."He made a shooing motion."I'm sure the fleshy ones have more fleshy laws for you to enforce."

"It's fine," said Carol.

Tony frowned again, and flew off.

-

Carol watched Tony fly away.Then she turned back to Aaron."So, are you finally going to tell me what happened?"

Aaron nodded."I didn't want to say anything in front of Iron Man, but it turned out he was right about some things.Madame Menace had been...tinkering with some of my parts, and it turned out she'd added a certain degree of control.Less than she thought she had.I was able to reroute and work around it."He took a small computer chip out of his pocket."Here.Give this to the Avengers.That should calm everyone down."

"And that was the problem?" Carol asked."The whole problem?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Seriously, Aaron, what's going on?What was all that about a tiny Celestial?"

"In-joke," said Aaron.He sighed, looked down, and shook his head slightly."There was a weird malfunction when Iron Man first found me, but it's all been resolved.My brain's functioning well.Considerably better than yours."

"You didn't seem well last week."

"Yeah, well, that was last week."Aaron paused thoughtfully and tilted his head."You're friends with Monica Rambeau, right?"

Carol nodded."Yeah, why?"

"Talk to her lately?"

"What does Monica have to do with any of this?"

"Nothing," said Aaron."If she didn't mention anything, then nothing at all."

"You're really not going to explain, are you?"

Aaron smiled."See, that's what I like about you.For a fleshy one, you're pretty clever."

"Aaron..." _Carol...I...I'll never admit I asked this.But are you going to be all right?_ " "Aaron, are you going to be all right?"

Aaron nodded."Better than ever."He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses."Don't worry, Carol.Everything is going to be just fine."


End file.
